Three amendments set to join Missouri constitution: What comes next?

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Secretary of State's Office formally certified the state's November 2024 general election results on Thursday morning, which included three voter-approved constitutional amendments.

In the Nov. 5, 2024 election, a majority of Missouri voters approved Amendments 2, 3, and 7 to be added to the state constitution. These amendments respectively lay the groundwork to legalize sports betting, establish abortion protections, and explicitly ban non-citizen and ranked-choice voting in the state of Missouri.

According to the Missouri State Constitution, when a majority of state voters approve a constitutional amendment, the amendment "shall take effect at the end of thirty days after the election."

This means Amendments 2, 3, and 7 will officially be enshrined into the Missouri Constitution on Friday, which marks more than 30 full days since the election has passed.

While these voter-approved amendments are set to become part of the Missouri State Constitution, their objectives may not take effect immediately. In some cases, additional qualifiers, provisions, and timelines must be met, as outlined in the language of the amendments.

So what comes next for Amendments 2, 3, and 7 in terms of their implementation? Here's a closer look...

Amendment 2

Amendment 2 allows the Missouri Gaming Commission to regulate sports betting and license it through Missouri casinos, online sports platforms (i.e. FanDuel and DraftKings), or professional sports teams (i.e. St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Chiefs).

The amendment's language directs the Missouri Gaming Commission to make sports betting available in the state to anyone 21 years old or older by Dec. 1, 2025.

This means, unless there are unforeseen setbacks or legal challenges, people could place their first sports bets in Missouri sometime between Friday and the first day of December next year.

However, even with this timeframe in mind, several factors could influence the timetable for sports betting officially beginning legally in Missouri. That includes, but isn’t limited to, how soon the Missouri Gaming Commission establishes regulations for sports betting, issues licenses, and finalizes operational guidelines for casinos, platforms, and professional sports teams that intend to offer sports betting opportunities.

Thursday's certification of votes revealed that Amendment 2 passed by a narrow margin of less than 3,000 votes and was favored by a percentage difference of 50.05% to 49.95%. An opposing campaign has seven days to request a recount of votes for Amendment 2 if desired, but for now, it seems there are not any current plans to request a recount.

Amendment 3

Amendment 3 paves the foundation to overturn the state's near-total abortion ban, which took effect in 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned to end decades of federally-protected abortion rights.

In the case that the state's ban is overturned, the amendment would give a person "the fundamental right to make and carry out decisions relating to reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives,” according to its language.

The language, however, doesn't explicitly override any state laws as soon as Amendment 3 joins the state constitution. Instead, the measure leaves it to advocates to ask courts to knock down bans that they believe would now be unconstitutional.

This means pro-abortion advocates will need to navigate a legal process to challenge existing laws on abortion rights. Of most prominence currently, Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit asking a judge for an injunction to declare the state's current ban unconstitutional. With the judge's approval, the state's bans on abortion could be lifted as soon as Friday.

Thursday's certification of votes revealed that Amendment 3 passed by a margin of nearly 96,000 votes and was favored by a percentage difference of 51.6% to 48.4%.

That's not a small enough difference to be eligible for a recount, but other legal challenges, like the Attorney General requesting to move Planned Parenthood's case from Jackson County to Cole County, may lead to some setbacks as to when a judge makes a decision on Planned Parenthood's lawsuit.

Amendment 7

Amendment 7 aims to change the Missouri Constitution to explicitly limit state voting rights to U.S. citizens in Missouri and ban ranked-choice voting in future elections.

It also comes with the condition that the candidate who earns the most votes in a party’s primary, also known as the “plurality winner,” will be the only candidate to represent their party on the general election ballot for their aspiring office.

This was the only one of three amendments passed last November after making its way onto ballots from the Missouri legislature, as opposed to an initiative petition process. As a result, it should face fewer procedural hurdles in implementation of its objectives than Amendments 2 or 3.

The language of Amendment 7 outlines the aforementioned changes to Missouri voting and election rights, but it does not specify any conditional delays for enforcement. As a result, the changes are expected to take effect in the next Missouri election, which is set for Feb. 4, 2025.

Thursday's certification of votes also revealed that Amendment 7 passed by a margin of nearly 1 million votes and was favored by a percentage difference of 68.4% to 31.6%. As of Thursday, there are no reported legal challenges to Amendment 7 leading up to joining the state constitution.